Monday, Jun. 20, 2005 - 10:30 p.m.
Yesterday we spent the morning shopping for a bathing suit. But we didnīt find one.
Then, we went to a party with some people that Maria knows from work. They are Cuban. They have a party every Sunday where they invite all sorts of friends and family. It was a beautiful thing.
There was lots of joy. Lots of smiling and laughing, dancing and eating, playing in the pool. I couldnīt really talk to many of them because I donīt really speak Spanish (although Iīve already picked up a ton of phrases) and many of them didnīt speak much English.
But they smiled at me and teased me a lot, calling me Gringa.
There was also one other white woman there (that had taught the woman of the house the party was at some english). She was an aestetician. She decided to tell me that I needed to thin my eyebrows, "have them done." She said that it would draw more attention to my smile, which is really the best feature on my face.
I wasnīt sure how I took all this. I kind of was flattered about the compliment to my smile....on the other hand I was annoyed becasue I quite like my eyebrows, and have actually always gotten a good many compliments on my eyebrows.
But all in all, it was fun!
And in the evening, me and Maria sat up late late into the night just talking about everything under the sun. We agree on so many things, which is why I connected with her so much originally. It feels like a good friendship when you avoid sleep to continue a conversation.
But the storms here are happening. Yesterday, it woudl downpour and then stop. Today it was raining when we woke. So, we headed to a mall. And it was nice, just walking around and hanging out and talking. I found a bathing suit. Itīs not quite what I really want, but itīll do for the rest of this trip.
Then I called Danny and made plans to meet up tomorrow.
Maria, Isa and I exercised and then made dinner. Isa is a great cook. She just threw some stuff in with and baked some fish and it turned out great.
Then we watched a horrible Argentinian (I think) movie called "Donīt Die Before Telling Me Where Youīre Going."
The rain here is interesting. Blowing the tall palm trees around, shaggy in the thick streams of rain.
And Iīve had, the past two nights, some very vivid dreams. Waking up with whole stories in my head. The last time this happened was back when I was in Germany.
